Eastern Europe's Human Rights Record

By
William Echikson /
January 26, 1989

PARIS

RESPECT for human rights varies in Eastern Europe. Hungary has the best record, and Romania the worst, according to the International Helsinki Watch Group in Vienna: Bulgaria. The 15 human rights activists jailed on Jan. 11 have been released, but three remain under house arrest. Others are subject to police harassment and threat of expulsion.

A large Turkish minority faces continued harassment and pressure to take Bulgarian names. Amnesty International in London reports that large numbers remain in prison.

There is relatively free travel, but the government still reserves the right to deny passports on political grounds.

Romania. ``A disaster,'' Helsinki says.

Nicolae Ceausescu's regime persecutes the country's large Hungarian and German minorities. Strict limits are placed on religious freedom. Plans have been announced to ``modernize'' agricultural production by bulldozing rural villages.